Bill Viola
比尔.维奥拉
点击超级资料 Bill Viola 比尔·维奥拉
比尔.维奥拉是一名录像艺术家，1951年生。他在纽约的奎恩郡（queens）和怀斯特贝里镇（westbury）长大，并在1973年取得了雪城大学（syracuse university）的实验影像工作室的美术学士学位。在毕业后，他在意大利佛罗伦萨的Art/Tapes/22工作室工作了18个月，Art/Tapes/22工作室是欧洲第一批出现的录像工作室中的一个，维奥拉在那里做节目技术指导。之后他去所罗门群岛，爪哇岛，巴厘岛和日本旅行，在那里记录传统表演艺术。1977年，维奥拉被文化艺术指导吉拉.派罗芙（kira perov）邀请他在澳大利亚的拉筹伯大学（la trobe univercity）展示他的录像作品。一年后，派罗芙移居去了纽约，她和维奥拉在那里结婚了。他们一直都一起生活和工作。
1980年，他们在日本生活，作为文化交流的任务，在那里他们拜入禅宗大师达安慎二（daien tanaka）门下学习佛教。在这期间，维奥拉还被邀请去索尼的atsugi研究实验室作第一个居留艺术家。1984年，维奥拉在美国圣地亚哥动物园做客座艺术家，参与“动物意识”研究与创作计划。1997年，美国纽约惠特尼美术馆为他举办了大型作品回顾展——“比尔•维奥拉：25年的回顾”。在长达两年的时间里，该展览先后在美国及欧洲的6个博物馆展出，维奥拉的艺术引起举世瞩目。他的作品在纽约现代美术馆，伦敦国家美术馆，柏林古根海姆，纽约古根海姆，惠特尼美国艺术美术馆，洛杉矶盖提艺术中心（getty los angeles），纽约首都美术馆展出过。维奥拉也作为美国艺术家的代表参加了46届威尼斯双年展，他展示了作品“埋葬的秘密”（Buried Secrets）。维奥拉1998年在洛杉矶的盖提研究中心做居留学者的研究项目，并在2000年被推选为美国艺术的学者和科学家。现在他在加利福尼亚的长滩（long beach）居住和工作。
比尔维奥拉的代理画廊为：
纽约james cohan画廊
[url]http://www.jamescohan.com
伦敦的haunch of venison画廊
[url]http://www.haunchofvenison.com
比尔维奥拉官方网站：[url]http://www.billviola.com
访谈
内容来源于：[url]www.designboom.com
胡萧筱/译
我们于2007年6月9日在威尼斯会见了比尔维奥拉
一天里最好的时刻是什么呢？
黄昏是一天里最重要的时刻，因为那时大自然不那么稳定。黄昏是如此美丽因为太阳落下去了，天变得黑起来。太阳虽然已经下山，但是依然散发光芒。生活在白天的生物组成了白天的世界——狗，鸟，松鼠，树，人（他们在白天和夜晚生活），以及即将睡去的所有植物。当他们准备睡去，夜里的动物和生物便醒来。这并不在一条完美整齐的线上发生，实际上这是杂乱的转变，自然还是向我们展示白天的光，夜晚并没有全然到来.这两者互相接触，晚上的一些动物与白天的一些动物共存，这是一个非常特别的时刻。它的美是不稳定的。这也在日出的时候发生。所以我对不稳定的时刻和位置很有兴趣：在两个事物间转换的界限。例如，我最爱的一年中的时间是春天和秋天。在春天，花儿想要绽放，但有时候还在下雪。秋天，你看到树木正在坚持着他们的生命，而有一些失去了它们的叶子和绿色。这些就是我喜欢的时刻，事物并不清晰，你不能从中分辨。电脑的时代对我们而言是一个非常危险的时代，因为电脑只说：“是”或“不”，“1”或“0”，不说“也许”，“大概”，“两个都是”，只有是和否。我想这会影响我们的意识，而自然不是这样的。自然在“也许”的基础上运行，诗意也是来自也许，而不是来自一种坚硬的固定的秩序。这些转变和界限在我的作品中非常非常的重要。
你听什么类型的音乐？
古典音乐，西藏音乐，德国和美国音乐，它们大多来自电影，…
你手边的桌子上摆着什么书呢？
我现在的书有一本中文的宋词书，我非常喜欢它。我还有一本书是佛陀传。在我的学习中，我看一本关于高清晰摄影机技术的科技杂志，我总是带着它。我还看一本历史上曾被禁止的书，名叫“等待金刚鹦鹉”（waiting for the macaws），是一个苏格兰的作家写的。还有一本书，是乔凡尼•贝利尼（giovanni bellin）的绘画，我在来这里以前读它。我还有一本乔凡尼•贝利尼的新书，他是我最喜欢的艺术家之一，我想他是一个非凡的艺术家。
你听收音机吗？
不，真的不听。
你从哪里获得信息呢？
纽约时报，网上。
我想你很注意女人的穿着，你有什么喜好吗？
简单就是最好的。
你拒绝穿戴哪类衣物？
领带，这是个自命不凡和不舒服的东西。
你是在哪里为你的计划工作的？
我有一个工作室。我在洛杉矶加利福尼亚一个名叫“长滩”的镇里生活，我在那过了25年了。我们住在一条非常安静的街上。我们有2个孩子。我不喜欢住在市中心和艺术圈的中心。我总是更喜欢住在边缘地段，在角落里。所以我有一个很大的工作室，一个工厂的仓库，有一些助手。我们就在那儿拍片子，这件作品就是在我工作室里拍的，这就是我做作品的地点。那里有我所有的书，我在桌子上写作，当然也有我的电脑。我常每天都在工作室里工作，但我发现工作室变得非常热闹了。我不能安静地思考因为助手们在做事，当我们在搞制作时，有很大的动静。我意识到我需要一个非常私人的空间，因为我需要安静的工作。所以我这么做了，租了一个房子，只有3个房间，非常安静，没有电话，这样对我的思考很有利。当我完全想好了一个新的点子时，我便非常激烈地工作，我去我的工作室，并把想法和每一个人说，我说，这就是我们接下来要做的，于是我们开始实施。当我没有新点子的时候，我便不去工作室。
如果可以的话，你能作为你好朋友那样描述一下你的风格吗？
我们都来自于未来的某个地方，我们都在这里过了一段短暂的时光。我们必须穿越水和光的界限到达并离开，我们将在最后都返回到这个永恒的无空间的，无时间的潜在的世界。我的作品中有很多都在处理这样的问题，出生，死亡，和人类的转化。
你在这里展示的作品的主要特征是什么？
我在这里展示的作品的主要特征是光，水，和时间，图像涉及到一些人，他们从一个遥远的黑暗的充满阴影的地方而来。那个世界没有色彩，没有细节和可见度。当他们接近我们的时候则变得越来越清晰，越来越有存在感，越来越个体化。他们变得有个性，在某一个点上他们跨越了界限，一种不可见的界限。这个界限由水组成，从上面倾泄下来，穿越图像。水不能被看到，因为它是一种特殊的水系统，没有水纹，除了底部有。当他们穿越水的界线时，他们在一个光的表面上会集。当他们穿过这个界线的时候，他们干扰了水的屏障，水飞溅和低落在各处。那时他们变得物质化，变得有色彩，细节，和实质了。身体变得存在，当他们来到我们的世界在水的这一边时，像是一种诞生。声音给我们的印象是他们在屋子里，因为声音占用了空间。他们和光，声音一起到来。声音在屋子里接触我们，变成我们所在的屋子的一个部分。然后他们和我们在一起的时间很短，从这非常短的转化中，但重新获得和聚集了他们的感觉。他们意识到他们必须回去，他们的时间到了。他们必须转向返回，并回到水和光的那一头，回到那个阴影的世界中去。这就是我对人类存在的根本的描述。
（参见2007年威尼斯双年展在圣戈洛（san gallo）教堂的比尔维奥拉的报道）
你能描述一下你作品的发展吗？
我作品的发展已经和技术的发展非常紧密了。我第一次接触摄影机是在1969年，我第一次做的录影带是在1970年。这种媒介非常不一样，非常原始，低质量，只是黑白的。基本上，我年轻时，在艺术学校的时候就衷于录像。当我第一次接触摄影机时，我的内心对我说，我将在我的余生都做这个。别问我为什么，我想象着录像在世界中，文化中，非常明细地开始行动。我可以感觉到，它会像画家那样学绘画，限制只有一个，就是色彩的设置。然后每年都会有更多的色彩，更多的技术，在录像中出现。这件作品用了最新的高清晰摄影机来制作，这台摄影机是3个月前才出现的。这确实是一个非常高级的摄影机，在同等水平上，相当于35MM胶片，也许更好些。这就是这件作品中用的彩色摄影机。黑白摄影机在这个作品中是一台35年前的摄影机了。这是一台安全的摄影机。因此这两种图像的会集市我当前的趣味，这就是我工作的范围。多噪点的，黑暗的黑白的，类似的的录像，所有这些方式都关联到最近的这个数码的，高清晰度的，电影质量的摄影机上。我没有看到这个过程的终结，我每年都有新的技术和创造性的可能性。所以我想最重要的事就是你自己要坚持，明确你总是在成长。你可以有世界上最好的技术，但是你不能没有想法，没有生活中前进的感觉，不想去做你不知道的事。因为我们总是想做自己知道的事，那样我们感到舒服，但是你必须要明确总是有你不知道的事。你必须逼你自己，这对我来说就是一个旅程。
当你是孩子的时候你总是想做艺术家吗？
使得，我不知道没有艺术的生活是什么样的。我从没有停止过做艺术，很早以前当我5岁的时候，我在幼儿园里，他们给了我用手指沾的水彩颜料。我就画了一个用手指画的画，所有的孩子们都在画，但我做得非常有破坏性，很好的破坏性。老师走过来，说，哦！看这个小傻瓜做了什么呢！她拿起画，当然，我非常的害羞，我躲到桌子下面，脸红了。我非常害羞，她拿着画给每个人看，并把它挂到墙上。从那天起。我是所有班级中成长起来的艺术家，我所有的画总是被贴到班里的墙
bill viola
is a video artist, born in 1951. he grew up in both queens and westbury new york and received his bfa in experimental studios from syracuse university in 1973. after graduating he worked in florence, italy for 18 months as technical director of production at art/tapes/22, one of the first video art studios in europe. he later traveled to record traditional performing arts in the solomon islands, java, bali, and japan. in 1977 viola was invited by cultural arts director kira perov to show his videos at la trobe university in australia. a year later, perov moved to new york, where she and viola married. they have lived and worked together ever since. in 1980, they lived in japan as part of a cultural exchange where they studied buddhism under zen master daien tanaka. during this period, viola was also invited to serve as the first artist-in-residence for sony's atsugi research lab. his work has been shown at the museum of modern art in new york, the national gallery in london, guggenheim berlin, guggenheim new york, the whitney museum of american art, getty los angeles and the metropolitan museum of art in new york. viola was also selected as the u.s. representative for the 46th venice biennale, where he showed ' buried secrets', a collection of five installations including 'the greeting'. viola has served as a scholar in residence at the getty research institute in los angeles in 1998 and was elected to the american academy of arts and sciences in 2000. he currently lives and work in long beach, california.
bill viola is represented by both james cohan gallery, new york [url]http://www.jamescohan.com
and haunch of venison, london
[url]http://www.haunchofvenison.com
we met bill viola in venice, on june 9th, 2007.
what is the best moment of the day?
twilight is the most important moment of the day because that is the time when nature herself is unstable. twilight is so beautiful because the sun is going down and it's getting darker. the sun has set but it's still light out. the daytime world made up of the creatures that live in the day, the dogs, birds, squirrels, trees, people (they live in both day and night) and plants all go to sleep. while they're preparing to go to sleep, the animals and the living beings from the night are waking up. this doesn't happen in a neat little perfect line, it's actually a messy transition where nature is still showing us light from the day but, the night has not fully arrived. the two are kind of touching each-other and some animals from the night time are coexisting with animals from the daytime; it's a very special moment. the beauty of it is the instability. this also occurs at sunrise too. so I'm interested in moments and places of instability: thresholds of transition in between two things. for example, my favourite times of year are springtime and the autumn. in the springtime, the flowers try to come up but sometimes it's still snowing. in the autumn, you have the trees holding on to their life, some of them are loosing their leaves and some are green. those are the kind of moments I like, where things are not clear and you can't decide between this and that. the age of computers is a very dangerous time for us because computers work on 'yes or no', '1 or 0'. there's no maybe, perhaps or both, it's only yes or no. I think this is affecting our consciousness, because nature doesn't work that way. nature works on maybe and poetry comes from maybe, not from a hard fixed order. those kind of transitions and thresholds are very very important in my work.
what kind of music do you listen to?
classical music, tibetan music, german and american music
from the cinema, ...
what books are on your bedside table?
the books I have right now are a book on chinese sung dynasty poetry, which is I love. I have a book of the biography of the life of buddha. I have a magazine in my study, a the technical journal of the new high definition video cameras, which I keep with me. I'm also reading a book about extinctions in history called 'waiting for the macaws' by a scottish writer and I have a book on the paintings of giovanni bellini that I was reading before I came here. I also got a new book on alberto giacometti, who has become one of my favorite artists, I think he's an extraordinary
artist.
do you listen to the radio?
no, not really.
where do you get your news from?
new york times, internet.
I guess that you notice how women dress,
do you have any preferences?
simple is best.
what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
a tie. anything that’s pretentious and uncomfortable.
where do you work on your projects?
I have a studio. I live in the los angeles area, in a town called long beach, california and I've been living there for 25 years. it's a very quiet street that we live on. we have two children so it's a normal neighborhood because I don't like to live in the centre of the city or in the centre of the art scene. I always prefer to live on the side, just in the corner. so I have a studio, a big studio, a warehouse industrial space where I have some assistants. that's where we do shooting, this piece was shot in my studio and that's where I do my work, when I make works. but my real place to work is in a very small house across the street from our house that I rent. I have all my books, I have tables to write and of course my computer. that's where I work because I used to work in my studio everyday, but what I found was the studio was becoming very busy. I couldn't think quietly because there were assistants doing things and when we're doing productions there is a lot of activity. I realized I needed a very private space because of the way I work. so what I did was, rent this house with only three rooms. it's very quiet, I have no telephone and that's where I really think and develop my ideas. then when I'm absolutely ready with a new idea that I've really really worked on very very severely, I go to my studio and Iexplain it to everybody. I say this is what we are going to make and then we start working. but if I don't have an idea, I don't go to my studio.
could you describe your style as a good friend of yours might?
we have all come from a place of the unborn and we are all here for a short period of time. we have to cross a threshold of water and light to arrive and to leave. we will ultimately all go back to this eternal non-spatial, non-temporal world of potentiality. a lot of my work deals with questions like this, of giving birth, death and human transition.
what are the main characteristics of the work you are showing here?
the main characteristics of my work here are light, water and time. the images concern people who are approaching from a distant place, a dark shadowy place. this world that has no colour and has very little detail or visibility. as they approach us they become more and more clear, present and individual. they become more individualized and then at a certain point they cross a threshold, an invisible threshold. this threshold is made up of water, which is pouring from above, across the image. the water cannot be seen because it's a special kind of water system which has no disturbance, except at the bottom. as they cross the threshold of water, they also meet a second surface made of light. when they pass through this threshold, they disturb the water and it sprays and falls everywhere. at that moment they become materialized, they become colour, detail and substance. the body becomes present and it's like a kind of birth as they arrive in our space on this side of the water. the sound gives us the impression that they're in the room, because sound occupies space. they arrive with light and with sound. the so
